Emoticons. Everyone has seen one, most have sent one, and many have been perturbed by the undefined usage of the winky-face. Originally defined as a “facial expression pictorially represented by punctuation and letters”, emoticons are usually used to express a writer’s mood in exclusively textual communication. Attempting to fill the visual void left by computer interaction, emoticons indicate the implied facial expression of the person you are talking to but cannot see. But as technology has evolved, so has the world of emoticons and their meaning. Unsatisfied with the dichotomous happy face or sad face formed with parentheses and a colon, a range of facial expressions quickly amassed. Apparently, our simple keyboards contained the priceless ability to make kissy-faces, queasy-faces, confused-faces and so on. In fact, some of the faces now represented in emoticons seem to have no basis in original human expression. Additionally, many chat programs, gaming communications and cell phones adapted rudimentary emoticons into colored, more personable and sometimes animated little faces. Emoticons have become so embedded into our cybercultural lives that they possess the communicative powers of their own, and do not necessitate text. These handy little messengers have the potential to annoy, seduce, and confuse, and in my opinion, should be used in moderation. [ele]
Overview
Emoticons. Everyone has seen one, most have sent one, and many have been perturbed by the undefined usage of the winky-face. Originally defined as a “facial expression pictorially represented by punctuation and letters”, emoticons are usually used to express a writer’s mood in exclusively textual communication. Attempting to fill the visual void left by computer interaction, emoticons indicate the implied facial expression of the person you are talking to but cannot see. But as technology has evolved, so has the world of emoticons and their meaning. Unsatisfied with the dichotomous happy face or sad face formed with parentheses and a colon, a range of facial expressions quickly amassed. Apparently, our simple keyboards contained the priceless ability to make kissy-faces, queasy-faces, confused-faces and so on. In fact, some of the faces now represented in emoticons seem to have no basis in original human expression. Additionally, many chat programs, gaming communications and cell phones adapted rudimentary emoticons into colored, more personable and sometimes animated little faces. Emoticons have become so embedded into our cybercultural lives that they possess the communicative powers of their own, and do not necessitate text. These handy little messengers have the potential to annoy, seduce, and confuse, and in my opinion, should be used in moderation. [ele]History
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